Interlude 1: In which Greg gets Suspended
by PhDelicious
Summary: Set between Nesting Dolls and Unbearable. Greg stood up for Sara, now what? Rating for a little bit of language. This is my first fic, so R&R, esp if you want more, though this particular piece is done.
1. Greg on the war path

**Disclaimer: Follow the evidence…they're not mine.**

**A/N: First fic. So feel free to bring the reviews, even bad ones. This is what happens when you don't watch Nesting Dolls until a week after it aired.

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In which Greg gets suspended too

Greg Sanders was not happy with the way things were going at work. Sure he was out of the lab but he no longer got to be the one to break all the cases and he went home smelling more often now. But that wasn't his biggest problem. As he saw it, his biggest problem was that nobody would tell him anything anymore. He didn't trust Sophia. Sara was on suspension. He hadn't seen hide nor hair of Warrick and Nick for almost a week. Grissom never talked anyways. And Catherine, who could usually be counted on for all the hot gossip, was blatantly ignoring him.

_I wonder if it's because of what I said to her about how somebody should fight for Sara. I really wish somebody would just tell me what's going on with that. Hmmm, I'm an investigator now, time to start acting like it and follow the evidence to the bottom of all this._

Since it was a slow night Greg headed off to start up his own little investigation.

* * *

Two hours later Greg thought he had it all figured out. But since day shift was next in and not swing, he went home to decide how to get his suspect to confess.

"Catherine, can I talk to you for a few minutes?"

The blonde looked up from the stack of paperwork she was closing out her shift with and realized that he'd finally trapped her. She'd been waiting for this since their conversation in the hallway last week. Reading the look on Greg's face she knew this wasn't going to be pretty so she sighed and said:

"Fine, close the door, have a seat. What's on your mind Greg?"

"Well, Cath, it's about this case. See a woman, attractive, brunette, thirtyish, workaholic, has been missing from her office for about a week after a fight with a supervisor and the manager. It seems that although noone has anything bad to say about her only one of her colleagues is really concerned about her whereabouts. So I'm now interviewing the supervisor, since the manager's an ass and nobody wants to talk to him, as a follow up to watching partial footage of the altercation. So, what made you feel the need to make an example of this particular employee at this particular time, **Supervisor Willows**?"

Greg took a certain satisfaction from watching Catherine flinch as he shoveled sarcasm into that last phrase. He was glad he'd gotten through his little speech without breaking down and accusing her of being as totally out of line as Sara had been. He also thought it was rather clever of him to have framed it like he was presenting a case, trying to snap Catherine out of her personal involvement and back into being a CSI.

"Not that its any of your business Greg, but we all know Sara gets a little over involved in molestation and domestic abuse cases. She gets overly emotional and crosses the line. Last week was just one time to many. When I told her to calm down and back off she got personal. Ecklie saw and pulled her aside. I have no idea what happened after that. I had a case to work. Grissom's already said he's not going to fire Sara so go back to your lab and butt out."

Catherine's level headed response was what Greg wanted, but she hadn't told him anything he hadn't already figured out and he was sure there was a lot more to the story. He had the timeline, now he wanted the motive. He wanted to understand Catherine's behavior. He thought he had a guess about Sara's, after all they already knew she'd been in the foster care system. It was time to step it up a notch.

"No, Mrs. Willows I will not 'butt out'. First it is my business, Sara's my teammate and my mentor. Secondly, this is destroying my little work family even worse than Ecklie splitting the shift. Nick and Warrick are avoiding me and Grissom, probably because they don't want to be forced to choose sides. Grissom's not doing well, most people don't after one of their oldest friends stabs them in the back. And this time Sara's not even around to try to cheer everyone up or to give them a project to work on."

Greg was on a role now, saying all the things he'd let build up for the past week. His agitation brought him to his feet and he started pacing Catherine's office, getting louder and more irate as he went.

"I watched the footage of your interview. What Sara did in there was a lot more professional than some of the stunts you guys have pulled over the years. How do I know? I've watched every interview you guys have done over the past four years trying to learn how you all have such a high success rate. I've seen Nick come close to beating a witness. Grissom basically spilled his heart out to one. You've ogled and flirted with countless men, you encourage them to love you so that they'll talk. This time Sara used a different technique. She pissed the suspect off to see what he'd say when he snapped. It's something Brass does a lot. You're the one who made it personal after the suspect left. I hear Sara had one hell of a comeback for you and you were damn luck Ecklie interrupted when he did or you'd have been left gapping down the hallway with no response."

Greg finally paused to take a deep breath before launching into his next segment. This one he'd prepared, the last one had just kind of spilled out. Before he started speaking again he looked at Catherine to see how she was taking this. Her face was turning red, but Greg wasn't sure whether it was anger or embarrassment so he decided to continue.

"I'm not sure what you have against Sara. She's a good investigator and she can teach too. She's always been there for us. She's a little emotionally messed up but who here isn't. You have to have some sort of issues in your past to be this fully dedicated to catching creeps. Still I'm not sure why you think she should be the example. After all she's never slept with a suspect, compromised an investigation by matching her DNA to a sample, or blown up the lab, and she's not even your CSI. Or is that why there's a problem? Now that you're the supervisor you can't stand that there's someone out there who'll call you on your mistakes and not be cowed by your attitude. That doesn't make sense Catherine. Even Grissom's not perfect."

Greg had one more thing he needed to get off his chest. He still couldn't figure out what had caused Catherine's turn about with Ecklie. Grissom wasn't the only one who'd seen the two of them sitting close together amiably going over a case.

"What I still don't get is why you're siding with Ecklie on this. You've been friends with Grissom forever. You're the one who's protected him from Ecklie time after time; you've been a mother figure to his father figure, well maybe more the hot aunt, but I digress. I know you've tried to get Grissom to act to resolve his feeling for Sara one way or the other. Is that what this is some sick twisted attempt to force some bonding between the two of them? Cause that would just be wrong and it doesn't seem your style. So what is it? Are you jealous of Sara? Pissed off because Grissom is willing to fight for her when he didn't fight for you?"

The flash of anger that came into Catherine's eyes at the jealousy comment was enough to clue Greg into the fact that he'd struck a nerve. The flinch that accompanied his final question let him know he'd crossed the line into actually hurting her. He was almost too upset to care, but this was Catherine, and she'd always been nice to him even when she teased him about his hair, so he stopped and waited. When her response came it wasn't what he'd been expecting, not that he'd really known how she'd react.

"Greg, you are very lucky you no longer work in the lab. Because if I see you again for the next few days you will be extremely sorry. I am no longer in the mood to tolerate your twisted sense of humor or this pathetic attempt to be a white knight for Sara. We all know you adore her. You're almost more stuck on her than she is on Grissom, but guess what it's never going to happen. So why don't you take off the rose colored glasses, put your head back on straight, and go protect the only person worth protecting, yourself. Get out of my office NOW!"

She'd gotten up from the chair behind her desk during the speech. For a moment she'd considered physically getting in Greg's space, but contented herself with stalking to her door and yanking it open with her last sentence. Greg stood up and moved to face her in the open doorway. His anger was mostly gone, leaving behind a strong sense of disappointment. He'd really thought of Catherine as a friend and supporter for all of them. It bothered him to find out what her bottom line was.

"Fine, I'm going. But yelling at me isn't going to calm your conscience. You're still the Judas of the night shift. You're upset because Grissom didn't fight to keep you when Ecklie split the shift, and now he's risking his job to keep Sara? News flash Catherine, he risked just as much for you. You wanted to be a supervisor and he supported that. Grissom gave up **his team**! He gave up three out of maybe six of the people he trusts implicitly and took on me and Sofia so that you could get what you wanted. And how are you thanking him now? You're cuddled up with Ecklie, the slime of Las Vegas, the leader of the kiss-ass-cover-your-ass brigade! So fine, you go look out for yourself, because none of us are going to watch your back anymore!"

And with that Greg stormed out of the doorway and turned towards the break room right into Ecklie.

"Mr. Sanders," oozed the night shift's least favorite person.

"Ecklie, shove it. Get your nose out of our business, stop dicking us around and go kiss the Sheriff's ass."

Greg cut him off, side stepped around him and continued towards the break room.

"Sanders, you are suspended, one week, without pay. I mean it!"

Ecklie's reply echoed down the corridor. Greg didn't even acknowledge the man; he just kept walking, adding 'go see Grissom' to his list of things to do. Right below make fresh coffee and above call Sara.


	2. Grissom takes up the challenge

**Disclaimer: The only logical conclusion to be drawn from the evidence is that none of this belongs to me.**

**A/N: I never intended to make this a truly Greg centric fic just a starting point. However if ppl are interested I might be convinced to write a parallel continuing his perspective. My goal is to stay within the confines of the story/relationships as defined by the writers while shedding some light on motivations. However, I support GSR.

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In which Grissom takes action

Gil Grissom was tired. Images of a young Sara Sidle, bruised and battered with a defiant spark of intelligence in her eyes, huddled in a corner, watching as her mother stabbed her father to death haunted his sleep. In the better dreams he was there, arms around her, protecting and comforting the young woman who would've been half his age. In the nightmares, her mother turned the knife on Sara while he watched only a few feet away but helpless to move. Of course Grissom's waking hours weren't much better as he tried to juggle their usual case load short staffed, avoid Catherine and Ecklie, dodge Greg's questions about Sara, and ignore Sophia's flirting. The thing that bothered Grissom the most though, was the fact that he found he couldn't think clearly. He'd run out of angles on a case and wandering aimlessly through the lab last shift, and it wasn't until a tech had gotten nervous enough to ask him what was going on that Gil realized he had been looking for Sara.

_This is just what I need, to have the whole lab noticing that when I can't solve a problem I go to Sara. Get a grip Gil! A new shift is about to start. Only three more until Sara comes back. Don't think about that now! You just need to be more alert. Time to hit the good stuff._

His mind made up Grissom left his office to go sneak some of Greg's not so secret coffee stash. He didn't make a practice of this as it would be unfair to his youngest CSI, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

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Gil glanced around as he neared the break room. Satisfied that no one was around he started toward the cabinet he knew Greg was currently using as a hiding spot. As he bent to open the cabinet his brain finally clued in to what his nose had been trying to tell him all the way down the hall; Greg already had a special pot brewing. Relieved Grissom poured coffee into his mug.

"Help yourself Grissom."

Greg's voice wavered nervously. He'd started the coffee and then gone to the locker room while it brewed to calm down and gather his thoughts before facing Grissom. He'd thought he had it figured out until he'd seen Grissom eyeing his coffee. Now he was terrified of Grissom's reaction. Sure he'd protected Sara, but everyone knew there was something between those two even if neither of them would admit it. Greg wasn't so sure Grissom wouldn't fire him.

"Umm…Grissom, there's something I need to tell you."

"Yes Greg?"

"How bout someplace Ecklie isn't going to just walk into."

"My office?"

Grissom quirked an eyebrow, raised his mug and gestured back the way he'd come. Grissom knew Greg was often still nervous around him and hadn't yet settled into being a full CSI, but given the week they'd all been having Gil figured this was something else. After all things come in threes and Sara had only been the first. Now watching Greg fidget and squirm in his office wasn't settling Grissom's scattered thoughts.

"There was something you wanted to tell me Greg?"

"Yeah, yeah, so I might have done something stupid. Nobody was talking to me. One night Sara was here the next she was gone and everyone was obviously avoiding talking about her. I just wanted to know what was going on. So I..."

Greg paused in his headlong rush of confession. He knew Grissom wasn't going to be happy about him poking his nose into Sara's business.

"I watched the tape of their, Sara and Catherine's, interrogation of that suspect. Catherine obviously lost control of the interrogation and the recorder caught part of the argument she started as they left the room. I was pissed. I wanted to know how things went from Catherine insulting Sara to Sara being suspended, so I went to talk to Catherine. I guess I did the same thing Sara did: got over emotional, started yelling, and got caught by Ecklie."

Grissom held back a sigh. He was pretty sure where this was going. Once again he blamed himself. He'd purposefully paired the two using Greg's crush and Sara's emotional vulnerability to form a quick bond in his restructured team.

"And so what you're telling me is…?"

"Ecklie suspended me for a week. Sorry boss."

With that Greg looked up from staring at the pen rolling across his knuckles to glance quickly at Grissom for a reaction. Of course he should have known there wouldn't be one that he could see. Sara, Brass, or possibly Catherine might have caught the tightening of his knuckles or the flicker of a grimace in his eyes but Greg hadn't spent enough time observing Grissom yet to see that Grissom was getting annoyed. At himself, at his staff, at his former team members, and as always at Ecklie. This time Grissom gave in to the sigh.

"Ok Greg. Go home. I want you back in this office half an hour before your next shift."

Greg wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but he did have a tendency to babble.

"I'm really sorry Grissom. I know I let you down. I'll try not to do it again. I was worried about Sara, Catherine stabbed us in the back, and you weren't doing anything. I was just trying to make things right."

"Greg, go home. Now! I will take care of Catherine and Ecklie in due time."

As Greg left his office for the locker room Grissom leaned back in his chair and focused on a spot in his ceiling. It took him a minute, but he came up with a great idea. Luckily swing shift wasn't quite over yet, for as awkward as talking to Greg had been it hadn't taken that long.

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"Catherine, a moment please."

"Not now Gil. My shift's over; I'm going home."

"Well then you won't mind lending me Warrick. I'm down two CSIs this week. And just to make this official, I cleared it with the Sheriff."

Catherine turned from packing up her desk and glared at Grissom. He stood just inside her office door eyebrows raised, silently daring her to object, testing to see how much he'd really lost.

"Fine Gil. Is there anything else you need? A management seminar perhaps?"

"Catherine, were you this unhappy with me when you were my subordinate? Because if you were you should have said something. I hadn't realized I was your example of how not to do this job. Now if you'll excuse me I have to find Warrick."

Grissom left Catherine in her office staring down at a stack of files. He now felt more isolated and alone than ever before. He knew he'd kept himself aloof from his team, and he still felt that it was the right decision, but he now wished he'd spent more time observing the people he worked with. The women in his life were all proving beyond his comprehension.

Catherine's cold shoulder was something Grissom had never expected to feel himself. He'd known that introducing Sara to his team might create some tension. Catherine had been used to being the woman in charge, not competing with a younger, equally intelligent, and equally attractive woman. But he'd thought they'd worked it out, especially as Catherine had been hounding him to let Sara in. He had just begun to realize that Sara had kept more from him than he'd been hiding from her all these years. And Sophia while she wasn't completely inept had demonstrated a complete lack of subtlety.

All this passed through Grissom's mind as he headed to the locker room, where he found Warrick as expected.

"Good you're still here. As long as Greg and Sara are suspended you're back on nights."


	3. Sara adds to her family

**Disclaimer: I don't even own stock in CBS.**

**A/N: Thanks to those who have reviewed so far. Hopefully this little character exploration of mine will continue to hold interest for you all. Please let me know. Also if you have formatting issues share that to.

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In which Sara reaches a Conclusion

Sara was bored. She had trouble filling her regular two days off without putting in overtime and now she was four days into her suspension. She'd cleaned her apartment twice, the first time because it had needed it; the second time because she'd needed it. The 'to be read' stack of papers and magazines which could usually be found on her coffee table was now in the 'might reread later' magazine rack. There were a lot of things open all night in Vegas, but Sara wasn't in the mood for clubs or bars, and she didn't want to change her established sleep pattern too much. So Sara was bored, but worse than the boredom was the loneliness. None of her friends had called in the past few days, not that she'd really expected them to since they all still had to work, but still.

_The fact that I haven't heard from Nick hurts and I'm even missing Greg. Sitting here staring at the walls just gives me too much time to think. And right now, thinking just brings me back to my memories. I need to get out of here, well this apartment at least._

Her mind made up Sara threw on her favorite jeans with a purple halter top grabbed her purse and a jacket and headed out the door.

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A little while later she stood contemplating the Bellagio fountains, listening to the hum of traffic behind her and the babble of partiers wandering through the relative warmth of the night around her. It was cold enough however to make her want to be inside. Contemplating her options she settled on the relative peace of the Aladdin's Dessert Passage shops. The stores weren't open at this time of night but the water still flowed in the fountains and muted colors still shifted over the ceiling. Sara was sitting on one of the rocks surrounding the rainstorm feature contemplating the sky when her phone rang. 

"Sidle."

Four days of not answering the phone hadn't been enough to break certain habits. She hadn't even checked the caller id first, so it surprised her to hear Greg's voice on the other end.

"Hey Sara."

"What's up Greggo? I'm not working this week. And if I remember correctly you're not off tonight."

"That's kinda what I wanted to talk to you about, Sar. Um, want to get some food or coffee or something."

Now her curiosity was piqued. What on earth could he have done?

"Well I'm at the Aladdin right now. How bout Aromi D'Italia? Call me when you get here?"

"Sure, right, good. It'll take me 20 minutes at least. Catch you in a bit."

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It amazed her how much her mind had quieted down over the past hour. Apparently the change of scenery had been a good idea. She was finally relaxing, so when her phone rang about a little after the appointed time she figured it was Greg. 

"Hey Greggo, you here already? I don't see you."

"Sara?"

"Oh. Grissom. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Her brain immediately snapped back into its normal analytical mode. She hadn't expected to hear from him, had something gone wrong at the lab?

"Two things. I just wanted to…about what you told me…I haven't told anyone. I just wanted you to know that and to make sure you were … well to see if you there was anything else you needed to talk about."

Now Sara was seriously weirded out. Grissom to make this much effort twice in one week was unusual, to say the least. What was happening at work this week? Sara almost started to tell Grissom she was fine, but stopped herself in time. It didn't seem fair given what he already knew.

"I'm dealing Gris. It hasn't been easy sitting home alone these past few days. But I'm pulling myself back together. I've been meaning to thank you for not giving up on me."

"That's not necessary Sara. So my other reason for calling is to make sure I'm going to be seeing you in three days."

"I'll be there Grissom. I admit leaving crossed my mind. But I've come to the conclusion that that would only be selfish, satisfying to Ecklie and hurtful to the people who've supported me."

There was a moment's pause before Grissom responded, and when his response came Sara had trouble processing it, even though it really wasn't a normal cryptic Grissom.

"Good, because I meant it when I told Ecklie I needed you on my team. Make sure you're in my office an hour before shift starts. And Sara, be careful with Greg, we need him back too. Bye."

"Bye Grissom."

_Be careful with Greg? Why would I need to … wait! He told **Ecklie** he needed me? What? _

Sara's thoughts were interrupted by Greg shouting her name through the nearly empty mall.

"Hey there Greggo. When I said call me I didn't mean holler across the Casino."

He shrugged sheepishly, and then grinned up at her with an adorable puppy dog face.

"I can't help it if I get excited when I see you Sar."

"Greg! That's lame even for you. Now spill the beans. Grissom just asked me to watch out for you and I'm a little freaked out."

"Damn! Did he tell you?"

"Would I still be freaked if he had?"

"Yeah, probably. There are only two CSIs on nights now. Ecklie suspended me earlier tonight. So…feel any better?"

Having just blurted out what was probably the last thing Sara expected to hear, Greg was a little nervous. She'd had been wound pretty tight recently and he wasn't entirely sure she was going to take his little admission quietly. But her response was a single word.

"Why?"

"Well, umm, can we walk while I talk? I'm too nervous to sit still right now."

When Sara merely inclined her head and took a few steps through the mall Greg continued feeling like a broken record for explaining himself for the third time in as many hours.

"I wanted to know why you'd been suspended and nobody was talking so I did some investigating. I watched your interrogation and went to talk to Catherine. I'm not quite sure how but I ended up accusing Catherine of being jealous of your relationship with Grissom and stabbing him in the back to further her career. Then Ecklie showed up and I told him to piss off and go kiss the Sheriff's ass."

Greg finished up with a nervous laugh. He wasn't sure she'd appreciate this or realize it hadn't been intended as a romantic gesture. He figured there'd be a 'let the man down easy' speech coming up next. So when she stopped and took a step towards him he instinctively stepped back. The second time he forced himself to stand still.

"Thank you little brother," Sara whispered as she wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his shoulder. She hadn't realized exactly how much she'd missed the support of her teammates until he'd given it back to her.

Greg was so shocked it wasn't until he felt her tears soak through his shirt that he recovered enough to wrap his arms around her shoulders. Granted it had hurt a little bit to have her call him little brother, but if he was honest with himself he'd always known that that's what he was to her. He was still at a loss for a response to this side of emotional Sara, he'd been preparing himself for yelling. Maybe being his usual perky self would make the tears stop.

"Sara…why are you crying? It's okay. I'm only off for a week and Grissom didn't even seem upset with me. I'm not upset about it either. This way I can go hang on the slopes for a week without using my vacation time."

That did it. The tears didn't stop but Sara did crack a smile. She also decided it was time for someone else to know her truth. Hopefully it'd be easier this time. Sara picked her head up off Greg's shoulder and took his hand to lead him back towards her thinking spot.

"Come on Greg. There are some things I should tell you."


	4. Catherine admits her mistakes

**Disclaimer: If you follow the evidence trail for ownership of these folks it does not lead to me.**

**A/N: I'm having some serious issues with this chapter, mostly because I'm having a hard time reconciling Catherine as I thought she was with the way she was written in Nesting Dolls. So here's one way of looking at it, though I'm reserving the right to make serious changes if it doesn't fit with what I want to do later.

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In which Catherine rationalizes her Actions

Catherine was frustrated. The past week had been hell on her. Lindsey had been acting up again resulting in multiple phone calls to Catherine at work. She'd had to play nice with Ecklie, who'd been on her like a rash since her promotion. And then there'd been the incident with Sara. She hadn't been trying to get Sara suspended, she just hadn't been in the mood to deal with the other woman's issues while trying to break a case.

_Honestly, why does she have to make it so hard for the people around her? We'd help her if she'd let us, but all she does is lash out. I refuse to feel guilty for not covering for her._

But Catherine's conscience kept tormenting her, throwing Greg's words back at her.

_Grissom gave up his team for you. He gave you his family and trusted you to keep them together. You destroyed that.

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_

It was her day off and she was planning to spend it with Lindsey, but Catherine no longer knew what to do with her. She'd been trying to come up with ideas for the past week, asking everyone at work for ideas, except for Grissom. She still hadn't been able to bring herself to talk to him. When her phone rang she thought it might be Lindsey needing to be picked up but habit had her checking the caller id before she answered. Catherine almost set the phone back down when she saw it was Grissom. Instead she answered with a resigned sigh.

"Willows"

"Catherine, I need to you meet me up at Lake Mead right away."

"No. I'm not on today and you are no longer my supervisor."

"Yes, well unfortunately for you, we are currently the only two CSIs with active status and no cases so this is out of our hands. I'll see you there."

Grissom put just enough of his 'I'm the boss' tone into his last sentence to have Catherine grabbing her kit and backing her car into the road before she realized just how well the man knew her. _Damn him!_ She thought before grabbing her phone to make arrangements for Lindsey.

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She'd been about halfway through her drive when she'd realized she didn't know where she was supposed to be meeting Grissom. So she'd called him and gotten directions. Now as she neared the designated location Catherine was surprised to notice only one other vehicle in the area. There were no cops, no ambulance, no M.E. something was definitely up. She called Grissom's name as she exited her car. 

"Up here"

Gil's voice floated down to her from the top of a rise off to her left. She hiked up the hill to find him sitting alone on a large boulder over looking the lake.

"Care to enlighten me Gil? You made it sound urgent over the phone so here I am. Where's the body?"

"I never said there was a body Catherine. Only that you were needed here."

Grissom quirked an eyebrow and waited for her to replay their brief conversations. He watched Catherine's eyes darken, and her cheeks flush with anger as she realized he'd played her. When she turned to stalk off in anger he rose and moved to intercept her. Standing just to her side he dropped a hand on her arm and spoke.

"We need to talk Catherine. And at least here Ecklie won't be able to suspend us when somebody starts yelling."

Catherine whirled on him.

"Don't you dare try to make a joke out of this Gil Grissom! You dragged me up here on false pretenses on my day off. I was supposed to be spending the afternoon with Lindsey. I may be getting more time with her since my promotion but it's still not enough. You have no right and no reason to do this."

"No right? No reason? Catherine, as your friend I feel I have every right to want to see my good friend and colleague who hasn't spoken to me in weeks. As for reason, I didn't want to have to hear about a third suspension through the office gossip mill. If you hadn't been so obviously avoiding me I wouldn't have stooped to this. Or are you trying to tell me that we are no longer friends?"

Grissom's speech had been starting to annoy Catherine, but that last question had reawakened her guilty conscience. Angry and defiant but momentarily defeated Catherine sat down on the boulder Grissom had recently vacated and stared out at the lake.

"What do you want from me Gil?"

"I want to know why."

Catherine sighed and began to rattle off the list of things she'd been telling herself all week.

"I'd had a bad morning with Lindsey. I didn't like the look of the guy anymore than Sara did. I was sick of Ecklie breathing down my back. I needed something to take my frustrations out on. Sara was there."

The normally self-assured Catherine wrapped her arms around her knees and pulled them to her chest in the age-old gesture of self-protection. Grissom slowly lowered himself to the ground in front of her with an odd sense of déjà vu. Fleetingly he wondered if Catherine knew that this was exactly how Sara had reacted when he'd gone to talk to her about her suspension.

"Gil, did it ever occur to you that I have a difficult time with these cases too? Every time I see that look in a man's eyes that says to him his woman is no different than any other piece of property I have to stop myself from reaching for the pole that I know isn't there. I've felt like an imposter every day since I've been promoted. There are so many people around here that can do this better than I can. I always thought it would be so easy to handle Ecklie after watching you fumble through it all these years. What I didn't realize is that playing dumb is probably the smartest thing you've ever done. Because now he no longer tries to play you and every time he starts in on me I'm afraid he's going to discover I'm a fraud."

Now Catherine was crying. Not the huge wracking sobs that Sara had cried, but a steady stream of tears punctuated by shaking breaths and whole body tremors. And because he knew neither of them would analyze the move later he was able to do for Catherine what he couldn't do for Sara. Grissom moved up next to Catherine on the boulder and wrapped one arm around her hunched shoulders.

"Greg was right. You gave up one of the most important things in your life, you team, for me and I screwed it all up. You trusted me to stand with you and them against Ecklie and I caved because I was more afraid of him than I was of you. I don't even know how you can stand to be here right now. I can barely stand myself."

"I'm here because I still consider you a friend and I've realized recently that I haven't been doing very well in that department recently."

Grissom placed his hand over hers and continued.

"You are a good CSI Catherine. You've worked hard for every thing you have and you deserve it all. You are doing an amazing job with Nick and Warrick and you'll figure out your own method for dealing with Ecklie soon enough."

With that Grissom stood pulling Catherine up with him. She surprised him by giving him a hard hug before wiping the tears from her eyes with the back of her hands and piecing herself back into the woman they were both more familiar with.

"Gil, do you think you could tell Sara I'd like to talk to her. Just to clear the air."

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**A/N 2: Hopefully you guys didn't find that too cheesy. Catherine was never my favorite character but I didn't want to be like the actual writers and leave her hanging in a place where I couldn't stand her. Also, and I don't mean to disappoint anyone here but, I'm not going to write the actual conversation between Greg and Sara cause I'd like to get to her first day back at work. Besides I bet you're all quite capable of imagining the looks of shock, sadness, amazement, and immense respect that would be Greg's response before he launched himself at her for a gigantic hug. And of course after a respectable time he'd back away with an amusing, inappropriate remark and move on to trying to get Sara to ditch Vegas with him for the last few days of her suspension. Sigh, so cute. ;-)**


	5. Nick makes amends

**Disclaimer: I still don't own anything but the way these words have been arranged.

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In which Nick comes to his Senses

Nick was nervous. He'd been acting like an idiot and he was about to try to make up for it. If his momma ever found out how badly he'd treated the woman who was supposedly one of his best friends she'd paddle him, despite the fact that she was only 5' 5". He was not expecting Sara to go easy on him. Nick was rather ashamed that he hadn't been able to bring himself to call her over the past week. He couldn't count the number of times he'd snapped open his cell phone to call her only to stop before a connection was made. He must have waited to long to end the call once because she'd actually called him back to ask if something was wrong. They'd ended up agreeing to meet for food before her shift on his day off, her first day back.

_God I feel as awkward as a teenage boy going on a first date with a crush. Its not that I have romantic feelings for her, but I know I haven't been a good friend recently. After 'the incident' I'm not sure if I know her as well as I thought I did. I always knew there were things in Sara's past that she was never going to share with me, things that had to do with her emotional involvement in certain cases. I'd tried to protect her at times, but since the shift change it'd been damn near impossible. _

Because of this Nick was a bundle of nerves as he headed off to meet Sara at the lab's regular diner.

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Sara of course had gotten to the diner first and had gotten them a booth. Nick could see her contemplating the menu as he walked in with a handful of daisies behind his back. It had taken him a little while to find the daisies, but he wanted to try to make sure she was in a cheerful mood before she headed off to work. He almost considered chickening out, but she waved him over having seen him over her menu.

"Hey Sara," he said walking over. "I'm sorry I didn't…we haven't…"

"Nicky, sit down and be quiet. You can apologize after our food gets here. There are a few things I'd like to say first."

Nick dropped the flowers into Sara's water glass, plopped himself down across from her and picked up his menu. Holding it so that he could still watch her he pretended to look at the menu. He caught the quick twinkle in her eyes as she glanced at the flowers before speaking.

"I can't say it didn't hurt when I realized that you weren't going to be there for me, whatever your reason. But other people stepped up and helped me realize that I have to start facing my past so that I can begin a better future. God listen to me I've been reduced to spouting clichés."

The waitress chose that rather opportune moment to come take their orders. Sara ordered a new glass of water, fruit and toast for her breakfast. Nick panic ordered a sandwich. Sara waited until she could take a sip of her new water before continueing.

"Nick I know you always wondered what it is that I never felt I could tell you before, but I'm still not quite ready to tell you yet and given how guilty you look right now I'm not sure you're ready to hear it. I have a feeling this is going to be good for me Nick. So is there any good gossip I should know before I head back to work?"

"Nah, you and Greg pretty much cornered the market on that for the week. Between the both of you telling off Catherine and Ecklie and then Grissom calling Ecklie's bluff there was little else worth talking about. Look Sara…"

"Not yet Nick. The foods not here."

Of course as Sara said that the waitress arrived with their food. Sara picked up her toast and began to shred it nervously. Nick pushed his plate to the side and reach across the table to cover her hands.

"Sara, I'm sorry I let you down. I picked up my phone and drove past your place so many times, but I just couldn't do it. I wasn't sure you'd want to talk to me, since you'd never done so before. I knew you were being taken care of. I saw Grissom's car that day when I drove by after shift, and Greg's the other night, but I have no good reason or excuse. Hopefully someday you'll trust me to help carry you burdens but until then I'll settle for carting your kit to and from the car. Now stop autopsying your toast and eat it."

They ate in silence lapsing back into old habits from days when they'd come to the dinner after pulling doubles or triples to tired to talk. They finished their meals and Nick paid their check. He picked up her glass of daisies and walked her out. He gave her a hard hug and handed her into her car. She rolled down her window to say goodbye, but he handed the flowers through the window and beat her to the punch.

"Have a good shift Sara. You should go now. I wouldn't want you to be late for your meeting with Grissom. We'll do this again soon. And if there's ever a next time I promise to do better."

With that Nick thumped his hand on the car's hood and back away so Sara could pull out of her spot. His next stop was Greg's apartment to pick him up for a night out on the town.

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**A/N: I'm almost done with this little experiment of mine. Considering the positive feedback I've received I may continue to write, but that depends at least partially on the amount of frustration TPTB cause me.**


	6. Warrick ties it all together

**Disclaimer: Same as before.

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In which Warrick makes some Observations

Warrick was relieved. Things finally seemed to be settling back into their proper order at the lab. Well at least as much of a proper order as he'd come to expect since Ecklie had split their shift.

_I like being awake during the day again, working in sunlight. The weirdos seem to come less frequently during the day. But I miss all of us being together. I didn't really think I would, after all the two people I was closest to moved with me. But Nick's been quieter and it's difficult to adjust to working beneath Catherine, ooh nice turn of phrase there buddy, after all these years of working with her. I never expected to miss watching Grissom and Sara try to out quote each other or Sara and Cat ganging up on Greg after one of his lame jokes. _

_We haven't done such a great job of supporting each other recently and I know we've all questioned it. But despite that, Grissom has finally taken a risk for Sara. Greg moved past his crush to being an actual friend. Sara may never find out about it but Nick's worked over time on every case involving women or children. Catherine came to me after her conversation with Grissom and asked for advice. We've all messed up, messed each other up, but time and again we find a way to straighten each other back out in the end._

_We're an incredibly dysfunctional group, but our own little family none the less. Maybe this time we'll actually all get to be happy for a while._

With that Warrick left the locker room and almost collided with a flustered Greg.

"Welcome back to the night shift Greggo. Try not to cause any more trouble soon, eh?"

Little did the two CSIs know that what would come next would be _Unbearable._

_Finito

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**A/N: So the astute reader may notice that I've changed this story's title. That's because I've decided try to do a little series of these between episode pieces. My goal will be to create a short 5 chapter work every few weeks to fill in what TPTB leave out/don't address between episodes. We'll see how long this lasts given the fact that not only am I taking classes I'm doing research as well. As with most of us writers the more reviews I get the more likely I'll be to continue writing.**


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